語(yǔ)言心理學(xué)教學(xué)課件

Chapter7

DiscourseComprehensionandMemory

Supervisor:ZhangZhiminReporter:LangQianContentsIntroduction

ComprehensionofDiscourseMemoryforDiscourseSchemataandDiscourseProcessingEducationalImplicationsIntroductionThischapterdealswiththewayswecomprehendandrememberunitsoflanguagelongerthanthesentence—thatis,connecteddiscourse.Researchondiscoursehasgrownsignificantlyinrecentdecades,forseveralreasons.

●

Werarelyspeakinisolatedsentence,discourseseemstobeamorenaturalunitoflanguagetoinvestigate.

●

Sentencesareambiguousorobscureapartfromtheirdiscoursecontext.

●

Discourseprovidesarichsourceofmaterialforthoseinterestedinthecognitiveprocessesusedinlanguage.ComprehensionofdiscourseTitleLocalandglobaldiscoursestructureStrategiesusedtoestablishcoherenceCohesionSummaryRoleofworkingmemoryLocalandglobaldiscoursestructureComprehensionofconnecteddiscoursedependslessonthemeaningoftheindividualsentencesthanontheirarrange-ment.Indeed,itisentirelypossibleforagroupofmean-ingfulsentencestobethrowntogetherinawaythatmakesnosenseatall.e.g.Carlosarrangedtotakegolflessonsfromthelocalpro-fessional.Hisdog,acockerspaniel,wasexpectingpupsagain.Andreahadthecarwashedforthebigwedding.SheexpectedCarlostohelphermoveintohernewapartment.LocalandglobaldiscoursestructureJohnboughtacakeatthebakeshop.Thecakewaschocolatewithwhitefrostinganditwasread“Happybirthday,Joan”inredletters.Johnwasparticularlypleasedwiththelettering.HebroughtitovertoGreg’shouse,andtogethertheyworkedontherestofdetails.Johnboughtacakeatthebakeshop.Thebirthdaycardwassignedbyalloftheemployees.Thepartywentonuntilaftermidnight.LocalandglobaldiscoursestructureThecontrastbetweenthelasttwopassagesillustratesanimportantpointthatwemustlookbeneaththesurfacetounderstanddiscoursestructure.Superficially,thelastpassageisincomplete,buttheoverallresultinreader’smindsmaybequitecomplete.Thethreepassagesdiscussedillustratetwolevelsofdis-coursestructure.Localstructure:intherelationshipsbetweenindividualsentencesinthediscourse.Globalstructure:itisourknowledgeofthestructurecorrespondingtothetopicthatenablesustocomprehendandremembertheshorterpassageaboutthetopic.CohesionAtthelocallevel,adiscourseiscoherentiftherearesemanticrelationshipsbetweensuccessivesentences.HallidayandHasondefinecohesionasreferringto“therangeofpossibilitiesthatexistforlinkingsomethingwithwhathasgonebefore”.1.Categoriesofcohesion2.AnaphoricandcataphoricreferenceCategoriesofcohesionPronominalDemonstrativeComparativeSubstitutionEllipsisConjunctionLexicalReiterationSynonymHyponymAnaphoricandcataphoricreferenceCohesionconsistsofrelatingsomecurrentexpressiontooneencounteredearlier.Thisiscalledanaphoricrefer-ence.Whenweuseanexpressiontoreferbacktosome-thingpreviouslymentionedindiscourse,thereferringexpressioniscalledananaphor,andthepreviousrefer-entiscalledanantecedent.Oneoftheseformsofcohesionanaphoricreferencehascommandedthegreatinterestamongpsychologists.Therearetworeasonsinit.Onereasonisthatanaphoricreferenceenablesustoexploretheroleofworkingmemoryindiscoursecom-prehension.Theotherreasonisthatanaphoricreferenceilluminatestheroleofcommunicativeconventionsindiscourse.StrategiesusedtoestablishcoherenceGiveninformationItreferstoinformationthatanauthororspeakerassumesthereaderorlisteneralreadyknows,whereasnewinfor-mationisinformationthatthecomprehenderisassumedtonotknow.e.g.ItwasStevewhorobbedthebank.ItwasthebankthatSteverobbed.StrategiesusedtoestablishcoherenceGiven/Newstrategy☆ClarkandHavilandsuggestthatreadersexpectauthorstousegiveninformationtorefertoinformationthereadersalreadyknoworcanidentifyandtousenewinformationtorefertoconceptswithwhichtheyarenotalreadyfamiliar.☆Threestagesaboutthisstrategy1)Identifyingthegivenandnewinformationinthecurrentsentence.2)Findinganantecedentinmemoryforthegiveninformation3)attachingthenewinformationtothisspotinmemory.StrategiesusedtoestablishcoherenceDirectingmatchingThesimplestcaseissurelystudythatinwhichthegiveninformationinthetargetsentencedirectlymatchesanantecedentinthecontextsentence.Andincomprehendingthetargetsentence,wefirstdivideitintogivenandnewinformation.Eventhoughdirectmatchesarethesimplecaseofsentencerelations,theyarenotsosimplethattheycanbereducedtomerelysearchingforaspecificword.Findanantecedentforgiveninformationinatargetsentenceresemblessear-chingforaconceptmorethansearchingforaword.Sowhenwespeakofdirectspeeches,wearetalkingofmatch-esofunderlyingconceptspreviouslyintroducedintothediscourse.StrategiesusedtoestablishcoherenceBridgingInsomecases,wedon’thaveadirectantecedentforthegiveninformationbutcanstilltiethesentencestogether.

Thecontrastbetweenbridginganddirectmatching1)LastChristmasEugenewenttoalotofparties.ThisChristmashegotverydrunkagain.2)LastChristmasEugenegotabsolutelysmashed.ThisChristmashegotverydrunkagain.HavilandandClarkhaveshownthatrequirebridgestakelongertocomprehendthanthoseforwhichthereisadirectmatchofantecedents.

StrategiesusedtoestablishcoherenceReinstatingoldinformationIamtryingtofindablackdog.HeisashortandhasadogtagonhisneckthatsaysFred.Yesterdaythatdogbitalittlegirl.Shewasscared,butshewasn’treallyhurt.Yesterdayablackdogbitalittlegirl.Itgotaway,andwearestilltryingtofindit.HeisshortandadogtagonhisneckthatsaysFred.Shewasscared,butshewasn’treallyhurt.

Whenasentencereferstosome-thingorsomeonealreadyintro-ducedbutnolongerinthefore-groundthecomprehendermustreinstateinformationthatistobematchedwiththetargetin-formation.StrategiesusedtoestablishcoherenceIdentifyingnewtopicsofdiscourseAllofthesestrategiessharetheimplicitassumptionthatpartofatargetsentenceshouldrelatetoearlierinfor-mation,butsometimestheinformationisallnewandthetargetismeanttoestablishanewtopicofdiscourse.

Thenewinformationisgenerallytakenasanelaboration,sometimesasmalldetail,ofthegiveninformation.Onceintroduced,thisnewinformationmayitselfserveasanantecedentforlatersentences,whicharesubordinatedtoit.Thenaturalresultofthisintegrationprocessisahier-archicalstructureinepisodicmemory.RoleofworkingmemoryAswithotheraspectsoflanguage,individualexperiencesandabilitiesvary.Becausetheprocesswehavebeendes-cribinginthissectiondealswiththeoperationofworkingmemory,itwouldbereasonabletoexpectthatindividualdifferencesinworkingmemorymightinfluencehowwecomprehenddiscourse.DanemanandCarpenterdistinguishbetweenthestorageandprocessingfunctionofworkingmemory.Thelimitedresourcesofworkingmemoryareallocatedtoprocessingcertaintasksaswellastotemporarilystoringtheresultsofthesetasks.RoleofworkingmemoryWorkingmemorycapacity,ofcourse,isnottheonlyindividualcharacteristicsthatinfluencesdiscoursecom-prehension.Anotheristhebackgroundknowledgethattheindividualmayhaveofthesubjectmatterinthepassage.Whenweencounterunfamiliarpassages,itismorediffi-culttodrawappropriateinferences.Incontrast,whenwehavetheinformationinpermanentmemorythathelpsusinterprettheinformation,it’seasiertodrawinferences.SummaryAdiscourseiscoherentifitselementsareeasilyrelatedtooneanother.Atthelocalormicrostructural,coherenceisachievedprimarilythroughtheappropriateuseofcohesivetiesbetweensentences.Thegiven/newstrategyspecifiesathree-stageprocessofcomprehendingsentencesindiscourse.Andcomprehen-sionisimpededwhenthereisnoantecedent,forcingustoformabridginginference,orwhentheantecedentwasnotrecent,forcingustoreinstatetheantecedent.MemoryfordiscoursePropositionalrepresentationsSummarySimultaneousinvestigationofallthreelevelsSituationalmodelsSurfacerepresentationsSurfacerepresentationsSurfacerepresentation:weremembertheexactwordsthatweencountered.Oneearlystudythatsuggestedthatsurfacerepresen-tationsofdiscourseareveryshort-livedpresentedindi-vidualswithalongoralpassagethatwasinterruptedatirregularintervals.Andsomeresearchersfoundthatthesurfaceorverbatimformofasentenceisstoredinworkingmemoryonlyuntilitsmeaningisunderstood,thenpurgedtomakeroomforthenextsentence.

PropositionalrepresentationsPropositionalrepresentation:Itspecifiesthemeaningapartfromtheexactwordsused.Ifweindeedpurgeworkingmemoryoftheexactwording.Whatisleftisthepropositionalstructureofasentence.EvidenceforthepsychologicalrealityofpropositionscomesfromKintschandKeenan(1973),whoshowedthatthenumberofpropositionsinfluencesthetimerequiredtoreadapassagewhenpreparingtorecallit.ThemostinterestingaspectofMckoonandRatcliff’sstudyistheirtwodefinitionsofclose:thenumberofinterveningwordsinthesurfacestructureversusthenumberofinterveningpropositionsinthediscoursestructure.PropositionalrepresentationsInterferencesandpropositionalrepresentationsInferencesarenotmererecallerrors,noraretheyrandom,spuriouscontributionsbyimaginativereaders.Inferencesareintrinsictodiscoursestructure.Authorsleaveoutinformationthattheythinkreaderswillbeabletofigureout.MckoonandRatcliffconclude,onthebasisofanumberofstudies,thatweautomaticallydrawinferencesduringreadingonlywhentwoconditionsarepresent.Onecon-ditionistheonewehavebeendiscussing:Theinferencemustbenecessarytomakeacontextlocallycoherent.Theirsecondconditionisthattheinformationonwhichtheinferenceismusteasilyactivated.PropositionalrepresentationsKintschexplainstheresultsbyappealingthetwolevelsofrepresentationwehavediscussed:ashort-termsurfacerepresentationthatdecaysisotherwiselostveryquicklyandalong-termpropositionalrepresentation.Implicitpropositionshaveonlyapropositionalrepresentation,anditisassumedthatconsultingasurfacerepresentationisquickerthanretrievingapropositionalrepresentation.SituationalmodelsSituationalmodelsrepresentthestateaffairsthatatextrefersto.Thatis,theassumptionisthatascomprehendthepropositionsofatext,weconstructamentalorsituationalmodeloftheworldasdescribedbythetext.Furthermore,theconstructionofasituationalmodelinfluencestheaccessibilityofpreviousinformationindiscourse.SimultaneousinvestigationsofallthreelevelsMostofthestudieswehavediscussedtothispointhaveattempttoisolateoneoftheselevels.However,it’salsohelpfultosetupastudythatattemptstoinvestigatehoweachofthelevelsoperatesinthesameexperiment.InKintsch’sstudy,weseethatsurfacememoryisstrongonlyintheimmediatetestandfallstochancelevelshortlyafterthatpropositionalrecognitionstartsstronger,andfallsovertime.Butmemoryforsituationsisinitiallyverystrongandshowslittlelossoverretentionintervalsstudied.SummaryWestorediscourseinthreeways—surfacerepresentations,propositionalrepresentations,andsituationalmodels—andeachappearstobeinfluencedbydifferentvariablesandsubjecttodifferentdecayrates.Surfacerepresentationsareshort-livedexceptwhenthewordingispragmaticallysignificant.Propositionalrepresentationsaremuchbetterretainedandincludethemeaningofpresentedinformationalongwithanyinferenceswehavedrawn.Situationalmodelsareretainedthebestandarebasedonspatialorcasualrelationsbetweenpartsoftext.SchemataanddiscourseprocessingTitleschemataGenres

SummaryNarrativediscourseprocessingInaccessibilityofknowledgeSchemataanddiscourseprocessingAschema(plural:schemata)isastructureinasemanticmemorythatspecifiesthegeneralorexpectedarrange-mentofabodyofinformation.ItisgenerallyassociatedwiththeearlyworkonthestoryrecallbyBarlett.Barlettattemptedtoshowthatrememberingisnotaroteorrepro-ductiveprocessbutratheraprocessinwhichweretaintheoverallgistofaneventandthenreconstructthedetailsfromthisoverallimpression.ActivationofappropriateschemataSomeresearchersshowthatcomprehensionandmemoryarepoorwhenwedonothaveaschemathatcorrespondstothestorythatisunfolding,becauseitisnearlyim-possibletoseethesignificanceoftheeventsbeingdescribed.Butinotherinstances,wemayhaveanappropriateschemainmemorybutfailtoactivateitforonereasonoranother.Someresearchershaveconvincinglydemonstrat-edthatcomprehensionandmemorywillbepoorwhenthepassageiswrittensoobscurelythatwecan’tdeterminewhatmightbetherightschema.Reconstructionofschema-specificdetailsOneofBarlett’snotionswastheactivatedschemaservedasaretrievalplan,summoningupcertaindetailsratherthanothersbyvirtueoftheircentralitytotheschema.Someresearchersmadesometests.Throughthesetests,theyprovideevidenceofthedirectivefunctionofschemaindiscourseprocessing.Itisclearthattheschemathatisineffectduringcomprehensionhasapowerfulorganizingeffectonrecall.Moreover,informationcentraltotheschemaiswellremembered,butotherdetailsseemtobemisplaced,althoughtheycanberevivedwithashiftperspective.Alltold,theevidencethatschematainfluencediscourseprocessingisquiteimpressive.GenresGenresareimportantbecausetheyprovideuswithgeneralexpectationsregardingthewayinformationinadiscoursewillbearranged.Onegenrethathasbeenstudiedagreatdealindiscourseresearchhasbeennarrativediscourse.Typically,storiesbeginwiththeintroductionofcharactersandsetting.Narrativediscoursecanbecontrastedwithexpositorydiscourse,inwhichthegoalofthewriterisnottotellastorybutrathertoconveyinformationaboutthesubjectmatter.

NarrativediscourseprocessingStorygrammarsAstorygrammarisaschemainsemanticmemorythatidentifiesthetypicalorexpectedarrangementofeventsinastory.Ingeneral,storygrammarsviewnarrativesasconsistingofasetting,oneormoreepisodes,andthenanending.Episodeshaveacharacteristicstructure:someinitiatingeventoccurs,leadingtosomeinternalresponseonthepartoftheprotagonist.NarrativediscourseprocessingPsychologicalvalidityofstorygrammarsAfairamountofevidenceindicatesthatstorygrammarscorrespondtoseveralaspectsofhowcomprehendersprocesssimplestories.Haberlandtandcolleaguesfoundthatreadingtimeswerelongeratthebeginningsandtheendsofepisodes.Andtheyalsostudiedtherecallofstoriesandfoundthatsomestoryconstituentsarerecalledbetterthanothers.Cross-culturalinvestigationsAsMandlerhassaid,“Atthispoint,thebestevidencewehaveisthatthehumanmindanditslimitationsonmemoryaresuchthatcertainformsofstorytellingregularlyemergedinvariousculturesaroundtheworld”.

InaccessibilityofknowledgeAnomaloussuspense:Whenknowledgewasnotactivated,comprehensionwasseverelyimpaired.Yet,itisalsopossibletocomprehendapassageandstillnotactivatetherelevantbodyoflanguage.Subjectively,areaderexperiencesanomaloussuspensewhencontinuingtoexperiencesuspenseinastorydespitehavingexperienceitearlier.Gerrigcallsthissituationanomaloussuspense.SummaryOurprocessingofdiscourseisgovernedbysomeconventionalnotionsofhowpassagesaretypicallyorganized.Thegeneralnotionthatschematadirectandguidediscourseprocessingiswellestablished:Wehavedifficultyunderstandingmessageswhenwedonothaveorcan’tactivatetheappropriateschemata,andwetendtopaygreaterattentiontopartsofastorythatarecentraltotheschemaunderwhichweareoperating.Differentgenresareassociatedwithdifferenttypesofschemata,whicharestructuresinsemanticmemorythatspecifytheusualarrangementofinformationinatext.Studiesofcomprehensionandrecallofstoriesprovidesupportforaspecifytypeofschema,thestorygrammar.Wetendtostoreepisodesofstoryinseparatechunksinmemory,andweusetheendsofepisodesascuestosummarizetheepisodeasawhole.EducationalimplicationsSummaryConnectingpropositionsindiscourseBuildingglobalstructuresIdentifyingthemainpointsActivelyprocessingdiscourseTailoringcomprehensionactivitiestotestsEducationalimplicationsActiveprocessingdiscourseActiveprocessingdiscoursereferstoacollectionofac-tivitiesthatincludesrelatingnewinformationtoinfor-mationwehaveinpermanentmemory,askingquestionsofmaterial,andwritingsummariesoroutlinesofthematerial.Aconceptcloselyrelatedtodeepprocessingistheself-referenceeffect,whichisthetendencytorememberinformationbetterwhenwerelateittoourselves.Rogersetal.contrastedfourwaysofprocessingalistofwords:attendingtoattendtotheword’svisualcharacteristics,theirsoundcharacteristics,theirmeaning,anddecidingifthewordappliedtothemselves.EducationalimplicationsConnectingpropositionsindiscourseAswehaveseen,anintrinsiccharacteristicsofdiscourseisthatsentencesoverlapincontentandthatgiveninformationisusedtointroducenewinformation.Wewouldbenefitfromastrategyofexplicitlylookingforrelationshipsbetweenconceptsindiscourse.Andthisstrategyleadstoseveralbene-ficialresults.First,itproducesanetworkofinterrelatedpro-positionsinwhicheachconceptmayserveasaretrievalcueformanyothers.Second,evenifwedonothaveinformationneededto